


The Future Is Yet Unwritten

by Rebel_Atar



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: A supporting cast of disgostin ravagers, Kraglin is too stressed to live someone help him, M/M, Please stop me from writing spin offs, This is a bit condensed but if it wasn't I would never have stopped writing it, Two unrequited idiots right here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2019-02-14 11:39:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 15,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13007001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rebel_Atar/pseuds/Rebel_Atar
Summary: An encounter with a strange artefact forever changes Yondu's life and now he is determined to change his death too.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wonderful cover art for this fic has been done by Gyozan and can be found here https://leggy-too-yellow.tumblr.com/post/168549591434/for-the-kragdu-big-bang-2017

**Act One:** Ritual Sacrifice

  
  


**Chapter One: An Unwelcoming World**

 

As Kraglin slogged, knee deep in sludge-like damp leaf litter, through the trees he reminded himself how much they were making on this job. It was, he thought, around the fiftieth time he’d had to remind himself since they got to this strange jungle moon that seemed to be covered entirely by dense canopied forest. 

 

The thin line of Ravagers wound their way slowly through the undergrowth. There was a rustling in the branches above them and Yondu raised his hand to call a halt to the procession. He pushed his coat aside, arrow ready, while the rest of them cautiously moved their hands to their rifles. A shadow dropped from the trees and Halfnut screamed, flailing, as a large snake landed on his shoulders. Yondu rolled his eyes and let his coat fall back into place, the rest of the company relaxing. 

 

“Halfnut! Stop messin’ about.” He called. 

 

The screaming stopped. It was replaced by increasingly urgent cries of “Getitoffme!” as Halfnut ran forward blindly, lank hair streaming behind him. Yondu pursed his lips as he ran passed only to turn his gaze canopy-ward with a sigh when Halfnut plunged, with another scream, waist deep into a hidden pool of water. 

 

Yondu smoothed a hand over his face in an attempt to compose himself. Kraglin almost bit through his lip trying not to giggle. 

 

“Tullk!” Called Yondu.

 

“Aye Cap’n?” Came the response from further down the line.

 

“Get him outta there!”

 

There was a put upon sigh and a more dejected voice answering.  “Aye Cap’n.”

 

Tullk stomped up to the front of the line and Kraglin had to shove his fist in his mouth.

 

The snake was large, thicker than one would expect as it wasn’t particularly long. Certainly it was thicker than any they’d encountered on other worlds. It didn’t look to be particularly vicious though, despite Halfnut frantically flailing at it. If it weren’t for the scale Tullk might have thought it was a slug.  A very smug looking slug that seemed content to sit on Halfnut’s shoulders and flick it’s three tongues into his ear. Tullk couldn’t see the attraction, personally. He lifted the snake gently from Halfnut, it instantly coiled around his forearm and peered up at him. He got the impression it wasn’t going to be moved any time soon. He shrugged and then seized Halfnut under the arms and pulled him bodily from the pool. Halfnut turned to thank him, caught sight of the snake, and shuddered before fleeing back to his place in the line. 

 

“Thankya Tullk. Now, if we’ve quite finished with the histrionics we’re movin’ on!” Yondu bellowed down the line and started to squelch off again, avoiding the pool that claimed Halfnut. Tullk nodded to Kraglin on his way past, grinning at the first mate’s watering eyes and then took his place in the line once more. On they trudged.

 

It wasn’t the sort of job they normally took. No breaking in, no stealing, no shooting, at least if their client was to be believed. It had all seemed a little dull. Just a fetch and carry mission, no risk involved. Yondu had been suspicious, the last ‘no risk’ fetch and carry mission hadn’t worked out so well for him. As evidenced by the sulking Terran teen who was currently back on the Eclector. Quill hadn’t taken too kindly to being left behind.

 

There were two things that had swung Yondu’s opinion enough to accept the job. One: it paid outrageously well. Two: their target was an inanimate statue, no sentient trafficking involved. 

 

The job had almost been too good to be true but the client’s desperation had made Yondu suspicious. Thankfully there was a catch. That had made Yondu relax, everything about the job would make a lot more sense if there was a catch to it. It had been a weird one, even by his standards. When they recovered this mysterious statue thing no skin to statue contact could be made, or scale to statue, or well, whatever. No one was to touch the thing bare was the point of it all.

 

The client had left it up to the Ravagers how they managed it but had cautioned that this condition was for their own safety. Yondu had made everyone wear gloves, simple enough really provided the damn thing was a reasonable size. 

 

That catch, and the warning that came with it, were the reason that Quill had been left on the ship. He was old enough to be going on missions, had been on a fair few by now, but the damn boy wouldn’t listen. To Yondu, or to warnings in general. It was the reason he hadn’t been trusted on solo jobs yet and the reason Yondu wouldn’t allow him anywhere near this one. Last thing he needed was this statue to vaporise people on contact and a Terran with no sense of self-preservation.

 

As the march through the jungle became lengthier Yondu was beginning to doubt the accuracy of the information he’d been given. The map led him onwards but getting a map had been an event in and of itself. Their client had known the name of the moon the artefact was on but that was the sum of the information she could provide them with. A little digging (Oblo eavesdropping in bars) had given them a likely location. A little more vigorous digging (Narblik holding people up by their jacket till their boots dangled above the floor), had produced a map.

 

Yondu had it keyed into his wrist console and was was leading the group he’d selected closer to the blinking dot. If the map was correct they should hit some sort of settlement soon. Good thing too, after their  _ uplifting _ hike through nature his boys would be thankful for something to shoot. Something that would stay still long enough to shoot anyway. 

 

Another pool claimed Scrote with a squeak and a loud splash. This was followed immediately by a gurgle as he tried to keep his head above water, apparently this one was deeper. Yondu screwed his face up but before he could so much as murmur the tattooed man’s name Tullk was grumbling “I got it” in his brogue and pulling Scrote to safety. Good. It was nice to know that some of his crew had the sense to act on implied orders as well as explicit ones, although Kraglin was generally the best for that. 

 

He spared a glance at his first mate who was trying, and failing, not to snicker at the sight of a sullenly sodden Scrote and cracked a grin himself. After all this was dealt with they were taking a break. The lot of them, time to spend their hard earned cash and get a little overdue R and R, but especially Kraglin. There was no man he trusted at his back more which meant the scrawny thing got dragged along on more than his fair share of missions. Never complained either. Good man all round. That was about as far as Yondu was willing to let his thoughts stray for the moment, though he could feel an itch in the back of his mind begging him to scratch through to more. He may indulge it later, in the privacy of his own quarters, but not now. Not here.

 

As Scrote took his place again at the back of the line, and wetly squelched onwards, Yondu began to see more light filtering in through the trees up ahead. Some sort of clearing he reckoned, and right on schedule. Maybe the map wasn’t a bust after all. He hollered back for everyone to keep their hands on their weapons and led them forward at a faster pace. He slowed just before they would break the clearing, to scout for any obvious threats, and was immediately suspicious. 

 

The crew gathered in close behind him and froze as they took in the same sight as their captain.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Abandoned and Entombed**

 

The map and their information had said there would be a settlement, and indeed there had been at one point. Not anymore.

 

It looked as though there had been all out war. The buildings were burnt out shells, the long dead littered the small streets with their remains. Yondu moved out into what had been a village, and motioned his crew along with him. He toed at a skull, it was cleaved raggedly in two. Whatever had caused it had been messy. He motioned for them to spread out, but he wasn’t expecting survivors. Not from the state of the bodies, not from the age of them. 

 

Soon a chorus of sound-outs echoed back to him the all clear. He set them turning the place over, no harm in making sure if there was anything valuable left. He saw Kraglin crouched over a ribcage, entirely separated from the rest of its owner wherever they were. He was holding a rib bone in his hand with a look that worried Yondu. Kraglin was impressed by whatever had caused the damage. Considering what his first mate was capable of that said a lot.

 

“Find somethin’ Krags?”

 

The Hraxian straightened up, joints cracking in a way that would have had half the crew wincing if they hadn’t been distracted by raking through the buildings and the bodies. He scratched his head. “Dunno, Cap’n.” Said Kraglin. “Whatever did this broke their chest clean open, didn’t cut it neither. Just snapped the whole thing at once.” Kraglin shook his head. “The spine’s broke too. Not cut.  _ Broke. _ ” 

 

Yondu nodded. His first mate was worried, as well he should be. These villagers might not have been seasoned fighters the way most of his crew were, but it was tough to defend against something capable of this. Suddenly the amount of fuss Quill had made about being left didn’t matter. Boy didn’t need to see stuff like this. He certainly didn’t need to be put somewhere he might encounter the source.

 

It didn’t take long for the crew to pick the settlement dry. It appeared that there hadn’t been much of value there to begin with. Yondu pulled up the map again, they needed to head south from the village. Conveniently there was a path cut through the undergrowth in that direction. He took it to be the first promising sign since they’d landed.

 

A quick shout gathered the crew and Yondu led them off again. They were more cautious now. The village had proven that there was something menacing in the jungle, and none of them wanted to run into it if they didn’t have to.

 

The path was overgrown and strewn with leaf litter just as the rest of the forest was but it had clearly been used frequently before the village was destroyed. It wound in between ancient trees with trunks broader than any Yondu had seen before. It led them down, slowly sloping, and the farther they went from the canopy the darker the forest grew.

 

It was a short trek before the path widened, bringing the group out into a plateau. It had been cleared of trees long ago and for some strange reason none had tried to regrow. They crowded up against the border of the clearing, as if huddling to watch. Not a single sapling risked the clearing itself. It made something in Yondu’s gut squirm in discomfort. He put it down to Gef’s abysmal attempt at breakfast.

 

Light streamed down where the canopy had been neatly cleared, bathing the area in light. Little colourful, glass-winged insects flitted about. Fortunately he’d already warned the crew against eating unknown wildlife. 

 

There was a low building in the centre of the plateau. Wide and squat but tapering to a near point over the roof. Surrounding it were five pillars, taller than the building itself, one parallel to each corner and another stretching up from behind the structure as if rising out of it. They started as wide cylinders but thinned as they grew up before fanning out. On the tops of each of them were carved five fronds and a strange text that Yondu’s translator wasn’t even making an attempt at spiralled around pillars. He imagined they were supposed to resemble trees. For some reason all he could think of when he looked at them were reaching hands.

 

Yondu rolled his shoulders, shrugging away the creeping discomfort and strode forward, a line of Ravagers trailing behind him. As he neared the building he realised that it didn’t have full walls, just little filled out corners and an ornate carved doorway to support the strange squat roof. Passing through, it became obvious that the true temple lay below, stairs flanked with ornate carvings led down.

 

They were blocked with rubble.

 

“Flark.” Said Yondu, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Simple fetch and carry his blue arsehole. “Alright crew! I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how to clear that mess.” 

 

As they crowded forward Yondu slouched against one of the part walls to watch them work. He was glad for bringing Tullk and Narblik, they were well suited to heavy lifting. He watched Halfnut and Scrote squabble ineffectually over who was going to lift the smaller bits of rubble while Kraglin just got on with shifting what had to be twice his own weight in stone. Yondu hummed appreciatively. Boy was stronger than he looked. Kraglin was a lot of things more than he looked. As Yondu allowed his gaze to drift south he resigned himself to the fact that once they were back on the Eclector he was going to need some serious alone time in his cabin.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Abandon All Hope**

 

Much to the relief of the crew not all of the staircase had been filled with rubble, just to the first landing. It was a good thing too because as they descended the Ravagers began to realise they might not have been given the full picture when it came to this statue.

 

Past the first few bends of the staircase it opened up into a vast cavern. If they had been in a mountain Yondu would have sworn the whole thing had been hollowed out. As it was he couldn’t imagine the amount of time it took to create such a space. Especially if the technology used had been as primitive as that in the village. There were no rooms, no floors. There was just one long, wide staircase that levelled out into a landing occasionally so it could make a turn before continuing down into the darkness.

 

Despite the width of the stairs Yondu forced them to go single file. There were no barriers or walls flanking the staircase. If someone went off the edge that was going to be a  _ long _ drop.

 

Little motes of light and colour flared to life in the dark, or twinkled just out of reach. Like distant stars in the night. Yondu turned to follow the path of one and saw Narblik taking a step towards the edge after a particularly enticing glow. A sharp whistle had his arrow slowly turning in front of Narblik’s nose, a sufficient distraction from whatever siren call that thing had been putting out.

 

“Ya got void for brains boy?”

 

Narblik tried to stammer an answer before Kraglin rolled his eyes and tilted the Ravager’s head down. Where one foot was about to step into the dark. Narblik blinked and hurriedly stepped back.

 

“Sorry Cap’n.”

 

“Just y’all keep a watch for those things. Don’t know what they is but they don’t seem to want us goin’ further.” Yondu drawled before heading back down more of the staircase. He wondered if there was a warning he should be paying attention to here and shook his head. Warnings didn’t shell out credits.

 

As the darkness seemed to thicken tangibly around them the stairs finally levelled out into a short pathway. Yondu couldn’t tell if anything supported it but he wasn’t about to peer underneath to find out. At the end of the path, on a plinth that was inexplicably bathed in light despite the darkness, sat what had to be the statue. As Yondu stepped towards it he felt his stomach begin to churn again.

 

The statue was not quite a bust. It was from around the tops of the shoulders up and clearly carved in the likeness of a sentient. It’s head was slightly larger than Yondu’s own but it was in proportion with the rest of the statue. It was carved out of a pale stone in a creamy white. The edges looked almost rough but the face of the statue was detailed. A smiling countenance that managed to portray both peace and manicness in the same expression. It’s wide smile seemed to mock Yondu. Out of the back of its head the fingers of a hand reached upward out of the stone, open but giving the impression that they were grasping nonetheless. 

 

The overall effect was disturbing. Its sightless, blank eyes seemed to stare through all of them. A shiver ran through the group of Ravagers. 

 

Yondu looked at the size of the statue, looked at the stairs back up to the forest, and cused vehemently. He had been hoping this thing would be palm sized.

 

If it was as heavy as it looked it would take two of them to carry if they wore the gloves and were careful. Considering the events of the job so far he didn’t quite feel like trusting things to go that smoothly. 

 

Yondu sighed. “Scrote! Halfnut! Seein’ as how youse is soaked through anyways I don’t suppose you mind givin’ your leathers up for the cause? Temporarily, of course.”

 

Halfnut pouted, Scrote let out an odd chittering sound that was typical of displeasure in his species, but both stripped themselves of what they could without having to make the trek back naked and stepped toward the statue.

 

“Gloves?” Asked Kraglin in a tone that suggested they had better already know the answer and the two of them scrambled to put their gloves on before wrapping the statue up in leather. 

 

Yondu clapped his hands together. “Great job boys. Tullk! Haul this thing up will ya.” 

 

Tullk obediently stepped forward and lifted the statue with little difficulty. Yondu would be sure to switch who was carrying it as they made there way back.

 

Despite the hiccups along the way, and whatever thing was rampaging around the jungle, they had successfully acquired their clients goods. Yondu grinned, wide and greedy as he started back up the stairs. He could almost taste the credits.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Safe and Unsound**

 

Yondu breathed a contented sigh as Kraglin brought the M-ship around to dock in the Eclector. The journey back with the statue had been significantly smoother than getting to it in the first place and Yondu was certain he wasn’t the only one on board that was glad to see the back of that blasted moon.

 

Once the ship was settled and powering down Kraglin offered his captain a grin that Yondu found himself returning with a curiously fluttering feeling in his belly. He really needed to get Gef off that kitchen rota.

 

He pushed himself up out of his chair and sautered out down the ramp as it was lowering only to be met by a scowling pair of eyes, flanked with worryingly ginger eyebrows. Quills jaw was set, his arms were crossed and his lips were pouted in a way that promised he would not be letting this go for a long time. Yondu suppressed a groan. After the weird trip across that jungle nobody from the away crew wanted to deal with a Terran tantrum right now. 

 

Kraglin slunk down the ramp, all lean tendons and angular joints. Yondu swallowed. Scrote waddled out holding the statue, with some difficulty, still swaddled in leathers. Quills scowl deepened. 

 

“Cap’n.” Said Kraglin, pulling himself to attention. “Want we should get that thing stowed.”

 

Yondu nodded and waved him off, consent granted. Kraglin saluted and set to steering Scrote in the direction of the vault. There was a nice little forcefield generator they’d picked up a couple of jobs back that was awaiting that statue. No point risking sticky fingers from anyone. 

 

Quill made to follow them and Yondu grabbed him by the back of his collar. “Where  _ exactly _ do you think yer goin’”

 

Quill sniffed and raised his chin in a defiant look that left Yondu with the unpleasant view straight up his nostrils. Damn pest was getting tall.

 

“I’m going to see what you brought back,  _ duh _ .” He sneered. It brought attention to the scraggly first attempts at facial hair the brat was growing. So far it wasn’t a good look for him, although that comment seemed to have made him all the more determined to keep growing it.

“No.” Said Yondu, “Yer not.”

 

“You can’t  _ stop  _ me.” Hissed quill.

 

“Oh? I  _ can’t _ stop you? Now that don’t sound quite right to me boy. I reckon Terran Soup is going to have a hard time gettin’ into that vault.”

 

“Stop saying you’re going to cook me. I  _ don’t  _ believe you.” He tilted his chin even further and Yondu pushed down the urge to see if tipping it more would cause him to fall on his ass.

 

“Do you believe I’ll throw you in the brig?” Said Yondu with forced levity and unforced relish.

 

Quill deflated a little before screwing up a face that was now swiftly turning red. “You never let me do anything!” He screamed before running off into the depths of the ship.

 

“Oh  _ no _ , I don’t let ya do  _ anythin _ ’. ‘Cept go on missions and fly the M-ships and rewire yer damn music box and put yer mushy terran crap on the ship comm systems. But  _ no _ clearly thats not anythin’.” Yondu grumbled to himself as he made his way back to his cabin. His leathers were trailing bits of leaf litter in his wake as he stomped through the halls. Ungrateful brat. 

 

The door of his cabin slammed shut behind him and quick phrase engaged the lock. He’d had about enough of being around other people on the course of this mission and their welcoming party of one hadn’t helped matters.

 

He stripped methodically, sweaty jungle drenched leathers hitting the floor with a splat. It felt good to be out of them, good to be in just his skin again. He kicked the semi-sodden pile into a corner. He’d deal with those later. Though if the pile of other dirty clothes was anything to go by then ‘later’ was a very subjective term. 

 

Yondu stretched spine popping and yawned wide enough that his jaw followed suit. It had been a long trip. The only good thing being they didn’t run into whatever had laid into those villagers. Well, maybe not the only good thing. His thoughts were drawn to Kraglin’s skinny form, sweat pooling on his brow and a feral-ness in his eyes as he had edged around that settlement. The soft grin he had gifted Yondu with on the journey back. 

 

Yondu licked his lips as he felt his blood heat a little and flow sluggishly south. Shame it hadn’t been warm enough for Krags to get his shirt off, though the rest of the crew would probably have been relieved about that.

 

Yondu stepped over to his bed, collapsing back into it with a smile and slight arch to his spine. His hips thrusting at air for a moment as his thoughts of ‘what if’ turned firmly into fantasies.

He let himself wonder, not for the first time, if Kraglin could keep those teeth of his in check enough for someone to have his mouth. Shame he wouldn’t get to find out. 

 

He slid a hand down his chest, idly played with his nipples for a moment before continuing down to where he really needed the attention. Yondu let out a groan as his fingers closed around his thick, hard cock.

 

He’d needed this. Kraglin had been especially tempting on that mission for some reason and he couldn’t risk getting too distracted. A little alone time would fix him up nicely. Maybe afterwards he’d be able to look his first mate in the face without his leathers tightening.

 

He stroked himself slowly. There was no rush. The mission crew were on downtime and Quill was off in a snit and unlikely to interrupt him. As he squeezed the plating just under the head of his cock he realised with a shiver that he wasn’t going to last long. Slow or not it had been too long since their last stop at a bot house. 

 

He reached over enough to tug a drawer open in the unit next to the bed. A quick rummage around rewarded him with a tube of slick and less than a minute later his hand was silk smooth gliding over his own flesh.  _ Oh _ that was so much better.

 

Yondu licked his lips and swallowed. Sometimes he didn’t really get much out of his own hand but a brief end to some frustrations but other times, like now, it was sinfully good. He let out a moan as he canted his hips up, fucking into his own fist.

 

He could feel the heat pooling, slow and syrupy behind his balls. He reached his other hand back, a little slick on his fingers, to toy with his hole as he thrust. A few slick, panting moments later and he was writhing back against his fingers while his other hand stroked him to fast completion. With one last groan he came messily over his stomach. 

 

After a moment, breathing fast in the solitude of his cabin as his heart rate lowered back to normal, Yondu reached over the side of the bed, grabbed an errant bit of something fabricy and wiped himself off with it. Then he turned onto his side and tugged a blanket over himself. Tomorrow he would deal with getting them to their client. Right now he deserved a nap.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Reward Beyond Riches**

 

Yondu Odonta stood on the bridge of the Eclector, watching the stars streak past as his first mate steered the large and unwieldy ship through various jumps. They eased to a cruising speed after going through twenty. Not all of the crew were mammalian and he didn’t like to take chances.

 

He also didn’t like the stench of vomit permeating from various parts of the ship because some of the crew had gone through too many jumps. 

 

It wouldn’t take too long now. Just another few jump sets and they would be at the planet their client resided and they’d get their credits and be rid of the damn statue. He’d lost count of the number of times Quill had tried to break in and have a look at it and seeing as how they’d only had the statue a little under five days that was saying something.

 

Yondu nodded to Kraglin as he passed the job of navigation off to Tullk and got himself off to the mess hall. Boy looked like he barely saw a mean but Yondu hadn’t met many people who could put food away like Kraglin. It gave him a strange warm feeling that he refused to examine.

 

While they cruised he took the time to go over the details of the job and the drop off again, realising that he’d missed something. He’d been so concerned with the warning not to touch the statue that he’d overlooked the mention of a bonus if it arrived ‘unsullied’. He presumed that meant with no grubby handprints all over it. He wondered how he’d missed something as standout as a bonus but a little further reading told him it was because it was listed as ‘non-financial’. He wondered what the bint would give them instead. 

 

He shrugged and put the datapad down. It didn’t much matter really. As long as they got the promised credits along side it he’d leave her free of arrow holes. 

 

As he felt the jolt of Tullk moving them back towards another jump route he trusted his crew to keep things under control for at least a little while and allowed his mind to wander. After their overdue downtime he’d need to get some more jobs lined up but that could wait until much later. It was a future Yondu problem and current Yondu liked to stay out of future Yondu’s problems.

  
  


Eventually the Elector halted in orbit above the right planet. It looked startling white. 

 

After the brief mass confusion that was getting the statue on an M-ship without being touched and without Quill noticing, Yondu and a small crew were dropping through the atmosphere to the surface below.

 

It was cold. A frozen ball of ice that glittered prettily in the light of its system’s sun. Kraglin shivered and stomped his feet. Yondu ignored him. If he had a little more meat on his bones he wouldn’t be as cold but they wouldn’t be down here long enough for it to matter. 

 

A small befurred sentient beckoned them into a vehicle after declaring himself servant to their client. The Ravagers bundled in happily. The sooner they were inside, the sooner they were unfrozen. A brief, if bumpy ride later, and they arrived at a small house.

 

Yondu had been expecting some huge palace of ice but he couldn’t exactly put his finger on why. The client herself had come to the door to greet them. She was tall and slender, a more elongated version of her furry servant. Her fur was a soft grey and her small head was topped with long ears that hung down beside her neck. Her large black eyes were pupil-less and seemed to look through Yondu in a way that eerily reminded him of the statue.

 

She introduced herself as Safomnia and led them to a plush seating area with a roaring fire. Kraglin swiftly cozied up to it.

 

“Greetings Yondu Odonta and your Ravagers.” Safomnia smiled. Her teeth were surprisingly sharp. “I take it you have brought the artefact I requested.”

 

Yondu turned to Tullk and Oblo, “Go bring it in boys.” He smiled at their host. “Yes ma’am and it’s not had contact with no-one. Just as ya said.”

 

Tullk and Oblo trundled back in. The statue had been wrapped up in some spare fabric from the tailor, so that they didn’t have to keep using their leathers for it, and loaded onto a pallet for ease of carrying. 

 

Safomnia clapped her hands together and rose. She tugged aside part of the fabric to check the statue and after a moment breathed a relaxed sigh. “It’s perfect.” She said, her voice almost breathless. “And I can see you were truthful. Not a finger has been laid on it.” 

 

She motioned her servant to direct the Ravagers into another room to deposit the statue before turning to Yondu. “Would you be so kind as to give me the details of your account.”

 

Yondu grinned and pulled the information up on a datapad before sliding it across the table to their client. A few minutes of tapping away on it with her slender fingers and his writ unit chimed, notifying him of the deposit. He took the datapad back and gazed greedily at the line of zeros that was now filling the Ravager’s coffers. 

 

“A pleasure doing business with you ma’am.” He drawled, laying on a little charm. She chuckled in response and stood once more.

 

“All that remains is the matter of your reward for leaving the statue unsullied. If you would follow me please.” She stepped softly through an archway leading from the room. 

 

Kraglin looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Yondu shrugged. “Well, she did say it wasn’t credits.” He stood and followed her as Kraglin rolled his eyes and cozied up to the fire some more.

 

He was led to a room lined with smooth black stone. It matched the blankness of Salomnia’s eyes except for it glinted in the light occasionally as little flecks of minerals shimmered.

There was what could almost be called a throne made of the same material. She sat and motioned him forward.

 

“I am unique amongst my people. One such as me is only born in several generations. We are gifted with a certain talent. It is that which I will use to give you your reward.” She said.

 

Yondu looked around the room. The only way out was the doorway they had come through but he was confident that his arrow could get him out of any trouble that might come his way.

 

“In addition to the credits,” Salomnia spoke softly. “I shall give you a glimpse into your future.”

 

Yondu’s head snapped around to face her and he blinked. “That's your talent?” 

 

“Not quite.” She smiled indulgently. “The only part of the future I can see is a person's death, and the events which lead to it. That is what I offer you Yondu Odonta. A chance to change your future, for it is not yet written in stone.”  

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I don’t yet wish to lose your business. You have proved yourself most capable.” She said.

 

“This is going to happen soon?” Suddenly he was less worried about Salomnia and more worried about what else might be lurking on this ice world.

 

“Not quite as soon as you are imagining. You have a few years, just shy of ten actually.” 

 

Ten years was nothing to be sniffed at, but Yondu was planning on living for a lot longer than that. “You’re sure I can change things?”

 

“As I said, your death is not yet written in stone. Though I caution you that enough is solidifying with every passing day that less will be able to be changed the longer you wait.”

 

Yondu thought for a moment, torn between not particularly wanting to know the manner of his death but wanting as much life as he could eke out. In the he huffed a laugh and smiled at her. He was a Ravager, a Ravager Captain at that. Greed was part of the territory. “Alright then. How does this work.”

 

“Come to me, let me lay a hand on each side of your face, and look into my eyes.” There was something in the tone of her voice that had changed. It was deeper, richer, almost compelling. He found himself stepping forward towards her. He stood in front of her black throne. He would not kneel. Salomnia smiled at him with her too sharp teeth and gripped his face in her slender hands.

 

“Now, look deep into my eyes. You may feel a jolt, that is normal but please remember to breathe.”

 

He was about to ask what she meant when suddenly it was as though he was pulled forward, tumbling into the black depths of her eyes, sucked down into the darkness of his future. The darkness of death.

 

At first there were only flashes. A darkness swirled around Quill that hadn’t been there before. Taserface lurked in dark corners of the Eclector plotting, laughing. With ever lingering moment the people that surrounded him grew. Quill left, vanished into the stars and when he returned he brought with him enough destruction to level the galaxy. Helping Quill. Saving lives. Lingering looks at his First Mate’s back, shared glances on the bridge.

 

The moments drew closer to each other.Resentment, thick and bitter brewing and bubbling up from the crew. No Quill. No credits. No justice. A cold and bitter night on Contraxia, Stakar and Martinex. A golden lady, a golden chance but the price is too high. A forested planet and Terran music. Then bright and loud and longer than the others, Tullk crying mutiny and being sent into the void, Taserface standing above him, lording his new position, fire and destruction and death. Kraglin, and thank whatever there was out there that there was still Krags at his back. Then there was Quill again and explosions and suddenly he was floating, ice crusting over his skin in the void.

 

He came back to himself suddenly. Yondu bent over, hands on his knees and tried not to retch. He felt as though his insides had done a thousand jumps and been stuffed back into. His mind was spinning, confused at all the conflicting images. His last words echoes in his ears. 

 

Salomnia grasped his shoulders gently and helped him to stand. “I’m sorry, it can be quite overwhelming.” 

 

Yondu shook his head to clear it, thanked her for the information and got himself and his crew off her planet as fast as he could.

 

Back on the Eclector Kraglin asked him what she’d given him. Yondu forced himself to laugh and fobbed him off with a story of fortune telling nonsense. Despite that he couldn’t help the creeping feeling on unease whenever Taserface’s eyes were on him. 

 

Yondu didn’t get the luxury of seeing exactly what started the mutiny but he was damned if he was going to let the best of his crew get spaced and himself on some kind of suicide run. 

He’d been given a chance to change his future. He might as well take it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six: The Turning of The Years**

 

The years move on. Slow as molasses at first but picking up speed with alarming frequency. 

Somethings yondu managed to change, somethings he didn’t. Peter grew up faster than Yondu would have liked (and certainly taller than he liked). Solo mission after solo mission under his belt and Yondu finds himself almost beginning to relax. Peter is no less loyal, no less filled with Terran mushy feelings and no less attached to his home on the Eclector. If anything his age (and small amount of maturity) had him forming friendships with the crew. Even the simmering animosity that had existed between him and Kraglin seemed to be cooling down as the years passed. 

 

Over the years he’d spent more and more time with the boy. He never mentioned it to anyone (no good the crew thinking he’d gone soft) but he’d long come to look at Peter as his own. 

 

Peter began picking up extra jobs on the side. The profits were still split, as per standard procedure so Yondu had never seen the harm. That was until he came back from one mission with an attitude than never lessened. He was more callous with the crew. What would before have been friendly barbs now had heat behind them. He seemed to delight in pissing people off. Especially Yondu. 

 

He tried to be patient, really he did, but bursting in between what had been the closest thing that Yondu had ever had to maybe something less than professional with Kraglin had been the last straw. He went through the boy. Quill just stood there and took like he’d been doing it all his life before stalking off with a roll of his eyes. 

 

Not long after he took a mission to Morag. Then he took the orb he was meant to retrieve and never came back. 

 

Yondu raged at Quill but also at himself. He was unable to prevent this pivotal moment in what had been his future. He didn’t realise at the time but it was this moment that the countdown began at. This moment that started everything else into motion.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven: The Path of Destruction**

  
  


It had been two years since the battle on and above Xandar. Two years and he hadn’t heard a thing from Quill since. The troll was a little endearing at first. Boy had finally learned enough slight of hand to pull a switch on Yondu himself. He was proud. He was glad. Even he couldn’t have let something that dangerous loose in the Galaxy, not when he knew what it was capable of. Quill had saved him the trouble of explaining that to the crew. 

 

Despite the danger of the stone, just as he’d seen all those years ago in a black room on an icy planet resentment spread like a sickness amongst the crew. They’d been robbed out of one of the largest scores of credit they’d ever had. He’d taken some more jobs from Salomnia to try and make it up to them. She always paid outrageously well, though he never did manage to work out where she got her money from. Sometimes she asked him how his future was going. He hadn’t the heart to tell her ‘badly’. He suspected she already knew. 

 

Things that he saw, long ago now, were happening with an increasing frequency around him and so far he had been unable to prevent any of it. She had never mentioned it but Yondu figured that, just like the vision, the faster the events came, the closer he came to his death. 

 

After one particularly taxing job from her and a well earned long, but not nearly as satisfying night as he would like, on contraxia. He ran into Stakar and Martinex. He knew, right then, that it was the beginning of the end, even before that golden bitch showed up. 

 

Every so often he toyed with the idea of having a talk with Kraglin. Void knew what good it would do him though. Obfonteri had his back, through thick and thin, and he wasn’t about to do anything that would jeopardize that. 

 

He figured he might have one last good shot at derailing this whole blasted thing. He had a plan, but first they needed to get to Berhert.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight: Behest, Berhert, and Betrayal**

 

As they approached the planet of Berhert, Yondu pulled his first mate to one side. 

 

“Sir?” Said Kraglin, but the tone was off from his normal. Everything had been off since Quill left, even more so since Contraxia.

 

“I’m askin’ some of the crew to make camp while we’s off chasin people.”

 

Kraglin blinked, visibly confused and trying to process the information. “Cap’n...can I ask why?”

 

For one brief moment Yondu was tempted to answer him with: ‘I don’t know  _ can _ you?’

He let the moment slide by. This was serious business, as Ravager business went.

 

“Some of them because I trust them. And some of them because I don’t.”

 

Kraglin looked as if he might go cross eyed in his confusion. Yondu took pity on him.

 

“You remember all them years ago, Salomnia gave me an extra for that job with the statue?”

 

Kraglin squinted, thinking back. “The first job fer her? In that flarkin jungle?”

 

“Thas right.” Said Yondu.

 

“I remember you tellin me she did some fortune tellin’ shit.” Offered Kraglin.

 

“Yeah, she did. Only it was less fortune tellin and more live holovision of bits of my future.”

 

Kraglins jaw dropped and he stared at his captain. “You….yer serious aintcha sir? Flark.” He started pacing. “Did you know Quill was gonna-” Kraglin cut himself off with a shake of his head. The past could wait until he’d dealt with the present. “Whats gonna happen down there?” He asked.

 

“Something bad. Something that might end with crew getting spaced.” He said.

 

“Flark.”

Yondu nodded. He paused for a moment before figuring, why not. “Yes, I knew Quill was gonna leave.” The look Kraglin gave him at that made his insides feel hollow. “Did everything I could to try and change it though. I aint gonna order ya to believe that Krags. But you’ve my word that I tried.”

 

Kraglin looked torn but nodded anyway and thumped his chest in salute. “What do ya need me to do sir?”

 

Yondu outlined his plan and he could tell with every word that Kraglin didn’t like a single inch of it.

  
  


Down on Berhert proper he gathered the crew together to outline their strategy. All the while Kraglin led off the few he’d pulled aside before they landed. His hope was that by eliminating some of the players he would be able to sway they mutiny in his favor. If Taserface stood alone he would get the satisfaction of finally having a reason to kill the bastard. The betrayal shakes him to his very core. They take off, leaving those who made camp on Berhert.

 

Yondu had been torn over who he was leaving behind. Some of the initiators he had seen; Halfnut, Scrote, Brahl. Some of those he couldn’t afford to lose; Tullk and Oblo. Finally enough to fill any gaps in essential crew, if worse came to worst; Vorker, Atrandu, Sirano. He’d keep the last lot until he found replacements for them at the very least. If he could just keep the balance maybe he could keep the ship or at least get it back under his control. 

 

Kraglin circled back around to hang on the edges of the group. He gave Yondu a nod though he had still been distant since Yondu told him the plan. After that he sent his Ravagers out into the forest towards the music and the ship it came from.

 

Everything was going to plan and when Yondu revealed his real motives, Taserface revealed his true colours. It was never shown to him in the vision who started the mutiny. He never anticipated Kraglin. Never accounted for him. Kraglin belonged at his back the way he always was. He just didn’t expect his first mate to stab him in it.

 

The moment Kraglin’s words left his lips, Yondu’s blackheart turned to ice.

 

He didn’t expect nebula either.

 

He didn’t expect a lot of things.

  
  
  


When he woke, groggy tied to a chair he couldn’t see Kraglin anywhere. He hoped, even after his words, that nothing had happened to the Hraxian.

It became obvious quickly that Taserface didn’t know where the missing crew members were. Kraglin hadn’t told him. This one small fact let Yondu hold out hope that maybe, just maybe the boy got in over his head.

  
  


In a dingy cell in the depths of the Eclector, after a heart to heart with a rodent, Kraglin proved him right.

 

His prototype fin clanged off the floor of the cell and he looked up to see the tear filled eyes of his first mate.

 

“I didn’t mean to do a mutiny.”

 

Yondu smiled. Then he sent his first mate (still here, still loyal, a voice inside him screamed out) to get the Fourth Quadrant ready. 

 

Yondu laughed as his arrow sliced through the traitors to the sounds of Quills old music. The thought crossed his mind that the song was an odd choice but he chose to ignore and enjoy cleaning house.

 

By the time Yondu reached the security room Kraglin had reached Gef.

  
  


Gef who was well in his cups, mug of beer still in his hand. He’d clearly chosen to keep drinking rather than go to sleep.

 

“You killed my friends.” Said Kraglin, voice quiet and deadly sharp. Gef looked up at him and swallowed at the look on the Hraxian’s face.

 

“I didn't, I didn't, I didn't touch anyone.” He slurred, starting to panic.

 

“Naw.” Growled Kraglin. “Ya just stood back and let it happen.”

 

“So did you!”

 

Kraglin slammed his hands on the table. “I ain’t in with taserface! You’re his friend you coulda stopped him. Had them brigged, looked for bounties, gotten some credit for them,  _ anything! _ Hell even handin em over to the novacorps woulda been better then sendin em out inta the void.” Kraglin sneered, disgusted at the very sight of the other man. “The flark is wrong with you, with all a’ you. You think we woulda done that to you? Think the captain woulda?”

“Captain woulda run as through with that arrow before we could blink.” Gef waved his beer, slopping some onto the floor.

 

“Aye. A quick death. Not the terror and creeping cold as yer lungs explode, Gef.”

 

Gef looked guilty, torn. Then his mug of beer was shattered by an arrow. He looked up from it at Kraglin a second before the arrow came back and pierced his skull.

 

“Cap’ns too merciful.” Said Kraglin, looking down at Gef’s corpse. “”You deserved worse than the void for what ya did. Slow, and painful, til you begged fer the end. Don’t reckon any o’ ya is gonna get what ya deserve.” He sighed and turned away to finish getting the Quadrant ready. “I don’t reckon I’m gonna get what I deserve either.”

 

He should be floating out in the void with the rest of his friends. But then who would have been there to free the captain. Little twig weren’t gonna work out what he was looking for anytime soon.

 

Later with the Eclector exploding behind them and Yondu grinning at the head of the bridge the rodent sidled up to Kraglin. 

 

“You ah...you know that song is not subtle. Right?”

 

Kraglin grit his teeth as he forced his answer out. “It was the first one I found that I liked.”

 

Rocket laughed. “Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that, kid.” Then he hurried off to mess with the navigation system in a horrifying way. There were some things you just didn’t put a body through.

 

They arrived just in time.


	9. Chapter 9

**Act Two:** Sacrifice Denied

 

**Chapter Nine: A Frosty Reception**

 

Kraglin looked around the storage bay in horror before turning to Rocket with a face that promised a slow and painful death. “Where is he? Where’s the Cap’n?!”

 

Rocket heaved a sigh and filled him, and everyone else in on what Yondu was about to do. From the look on the kid’s face he wouldn’t have taken no for an answer. By the end of it Kraglin had gone so white Rocket wondered if there was any blood left in him.

 

“You...are about to do something stupid, aren’t you.” It wasn’t even a question at this point.

 

Kraglin whirled on him, rage and panic vying for dominance on his face. “I’m not the one who just let someone FLARKING SPACE THEMSELVES!”

 

He stormed off a steady stream of curse words the only thing stopping him from spewing his guts across the floor of the Quadrant. He sprinted to the bridge, seized the controls and out of sheer adrenaline manually turned the ship and gunned it back towards the planet’s atmosphere. He’d almost lost Yondu twice today already he was flarking damned if he was letting it happen a third time. 

 

His hands shook at the controls as they closed in, tracking showing two life forms rising fast from the planet’s surface. He wasn’t going to make it in time. 

 

Kraglin’s scream echoed through the hull and back down to the storage bay where the rest of the current inhabitants took a moment’s break from clinging on for dear life to look up in surprise.

 

Yondu and Quill left atmosphere. The planet crumbled behind them. They were floating, alone in the void. Kraglin could feel the ice in his veins the same way he was sure it was beginning to creep over Yondu’s skin. His mind flashed back to how they first met. Yondu hadn’t even been a captain yet, just a Ravager who’d seen something of worth in a vicious little gutter rat who’d tried to pick his pocket. Yondu had pulled him out of the slurry and given him a life. More than that, he’d given Kraglin the choice to go out and get himself a life. He swallowed thickly and did what he had to, pushing the ship beyond its limits especially after all those jumps but managed to get close enough.

 

He hauled the ship to a sudden stop that had the hull groaning in protest, and slammed on the grav beam. As soon as two items registered in the airlock he shut it off and ran. He hoped he had made it in time. He didn’t know what he would do if he had been too late.

 

Quill was on the floor, Yondu cradled in his arms, sobbing. He was still and quiet and obviously mourning. Kraglin watch Yondu’s chest move a shallow, incremental amount and something inside him snapped. He strode across, grabbed an emergency air mask from the wall and punched Quill right in the face in one smooth movement.

 

He carefully fitted the breathing apparatus over Yondu’s face, all the while yelling at Peter. “He’s still breathin’ you  _ flarking idiot.  _  Of all the  _ stupid ass things _ that you could flarkin’ do. I should flarkin  _ kill ya myself _ for this. Cap’n sacrifices hisself for your  _ ungrateful ass _ and ya can’t even check for a flarkin’ pulse!”

 

Peter looked at him in shock, still sprawled out on the floor and holding his jaw from when Kraglin hit him. He tried to get some words out but a vicious glare silenced him as Kraglin bodily lifted Yondu into his arms and stomped off to what passed for the Quadrant’s medbay.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten: Forgotten Kindness**

  
  


A few hours later saw Kraglin hunched in on himself in a makeshift chair. Yondu was hooked up to the monitoring machines to the best of his ability but he wasn’t a doctor. Not even by Ravager medic standards. He had no idea what to do to bring Yondu back from this and what he could read on the machines wasn’t good. He didn’t know when Yondu would wake up. Didn’t even know  _ if _ he would wake up. He scrubbed the tears from his eyes for the third time since getting to the medbay. Yondu wouldn’t want him to cry. He wouldn’t want anyone to be soft over him. It was a shame that Kraglin had been soft over his captain for a very long time.

 

That was how Peter found him, a bruise blooming across his jaw. Kraglin looked up at him and had the sick satisfaction of knowing that it would take days to fade.

 

“How is he.” Peters voice was quite, partly out of respect and partly out of worry that Kraglin might snap again.

 

Kraglin shook his head. “I think he’s in a coma.” He sighed. “And that’s not taking into account internal and external damage from exposure.”

 

“Is there anything I can do?”

 

“You a doctor now?”

 

Peter shook his head.

 

“Then no, Quill. Aint nothin’ you can do.”

  
  


They managed civility for all of two hours before Peter finally told Kraglin what Yondu said as they escaped Ego’s collapse. The look Kraglin gave him could have melted steel. 

 

“Lotta good it did him too. Raisin you, thinkin of you like that. First chance you got you were flarkin gone. Two years, Quill. Two years and not even a message to him. Only reason he knew ya were alive was cause of all the flarkin fuss people make over ya.”

  
  


“Well maybe,” Said Peter, his voice dangerously low, “If he had treated me like a son rather than a cargo crate or the crews next meal I might have considered showing up sometime.”

 

Kraglin stared at him for a few minutes. “What are you talkin about. He raised you like you were his own.”

 

Peter snorted a laugh. “Probably a good thing he didn’t have kids then.”

 

“You ungrateful little shit! He taught ya how to fly, taught ya how to shoot-”

 

“No he didn’t!” 

 

The yelling match that those words preceded went on so long that the rest of the Guardians had to pull them apart before Kraglin actually tried to kill Peter. Mantis tried to make them talk about their feelings. Gamora made them talk about what the actual issue was.

 

“Yer tellin me you don’t remember? Any of it?” Said Kraglin. “He took you out to that planet to shoot vermin, cycle after cycle after cycle. Heck you were only ten when he let you try out an M-ship, though he regretted it after you near crashed the damn thing.”

 

Peter shook his head. It took them hours to work through it all. What he could remember and what was missing, What it finally came down to was somehow, every positive memory he’d had on the Eclector was gone. No wonder he hadn’t thought about them in two years. All he remembered were fights and the threat of the soup pot. 

 

Surprisingly Drax was the one who asked if his behaviour had changed. Apparently it should be obvious that the loss of all positive memories might change his attitude. The worse thing was that Drax was right and it didn’t take long for Kraglin to work out when the change had happened.

 

“Quill, what was the solo job you did before Morag. Ya started getting real moody as soon as ya got back. Remember the Cap’n sayin he thought you were past that part of Terran development.”

 

“Before Morag? Umm...oh. It was a theft. Take some statue from this rich lady’s vault and pass it on to the client. No big deal.”

 

Something scratched at the back of Kraglin’s mind. “What kind of statue?”

 

“Oh it was so weird man. It was looked like a white bust, like the ancient Greek statues back on Earth, except it had like part of this hand coming out of its head! How crazy is that?”

 

Kraglin paled. “Quill, you didn’t touch that thing did you? With your bare hands?”

 

“Of course I touched it, how else was I going to move it?”

 

“Well, shit.”

 

Kraglin relayed their original job to fetch the statue and Peter put his head in his hands. “I stole from  _ Salomnia’s vault _ . That lady’s going to kill me.”

 

“Well unfortunately we’re gonna have to tell her.” Said Kraglin.

 

“What? Why?”

 

“So she can tell us what the flark you did and how to fix it ya twit!” 

 

Peter looked sheepish at the remark and Kraglin set Mantis on to watch Yondu while he pulled up the contact details for Salomnia. She turned out to be less helpful than he’d hoped for. She hadn’t been aware the statue was missing (so peter must have done a good job for once) but was able to confirm their suspicions. The statue was the image of an ancient, and evil, god of memory. Every touch to the statue stole more and more happiness from the person until the only memories left were pain, anger and hatred. The remains they’d found on that planet all those years ago were of a cult who had worshipped the god. Over generations the god had been forgotten and worship switched to the statue. It seemed they had been touching it as part of a ritual. The mutilated bodies weren’t caused by some great monster, the people did it to themselves. Salomnia didn’t know how to reverse the process but mentioned that there had originally  been two gods of memory. One good and one evil. Perhaps the other might be the key to restoring the memories.

 

Kraglin silently added peter to his list of people he now needed to work out how to fix, thanked Salomnia and ended the call. He was officially out of options. Well, except for one last shot in the dark. There were crew that had left the ravagers over the years and among them was one very good hacker. If anyone could find the information he needed it would be her. He just hoped she didn’t shoot him on sight. He wasn’t sure on the reasons she left over. Regardless, Cap’n was going to need a new crew when he was back on his feet. As first mate it was Kraglin’s job to provide. He might as well get started.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven: Those Left Behind**

 

It took Kraglin longer than he would have liked to track down Adrastia. Yondu was looking better on the outside at least but he still hadn’t stirred after almost ten days and none of them knew what was going on with his insides. He was putting everything on her having the information he would need or at least being able to get it.

 

He tracked her to a dreary little planet of constant rain where she’d managed to hole up in a permanent sort of way. Kraglin knew Adrastia was Depaxii and he knew that Depaxii had a tendency to nest. That was about all he knew about them. He hoped she wasn’t going to be territorial or anything. He’d also found out from Peter, who even without happy memories of his time with them seemed to remember Adrastia leaving, that whatever had happened had something to do with Taserface and crowd. 

 

Kraglin couldn’t say he was particularly surprised but he was hopeful that the death of Taserface would sway things in his favor.

 

He walked up to what was an unassuming but nice looking block of apartments and hoped his information was correct when he pressed her comm link. There was a strange electronic noise and he had the distinct impression of being scanned before a voice spoke out.

 

“Well, well, well. Didn’t expect to see you here Obfonteri. Something I can help you with?“ 

 

He recognised her strange almost lisping accent and relaxed a little that at the very least he’d been able to find the right person. “Maybe, but I’d rather talk to ya in person.“ He wondered if she would allow him up. He wouldn’t if he was in the same situation. Too many unknowns.

 

“Well now I am intrigued. Seein’ as it’s only you.“

 

A chime sounded and the door swung open. Kraglin steeled himself for the possibility of an argument and headed on in and up to the apartment.

 

Being out of the gutter seemed to suit Adrastia. She met him at the door, blaster pointed at his chest and a lot more filled out than he ever remembered her being. She pressed a button just inside the door and this time he had no illusions about the fact he was being scanned. She hummed, contemplative and motioned him in with the blaster. 

 

As the door slid shut behind him he took in the place. He’d been right about nesting, every free surface was covered in something soft. The surfaces that weren’t free were covered inch to inch by tech. One wall was hung with monitors, a small desk at the bottom was laid out with wires and datapads and everything else he could think of. All linked together in some giant, functioning system.

 

Kraglin was a little overwhelmed but glad to see she was doing alright by herself now she was out on her own.

 

“So. What is it ya need?“

 

“Do you know if any of the rest of the old crew are kicking about?” Asked Kraglin. It was the easier of his requests and the one he thought he might get the most cooperation on.

 

“I may have a few contacts.“ She hedged. “Why what’s the issue with the current crew?” 

 

“Taserface.”

Adrastia laughed but it was bitter. “I could have told you that.”

 

Kraglin sighed. “Everyone is dead.” 

 

That caused her to pause. She looked at him in shock.“Tullk? Oblo?”

 

Kraglin startled. In all the chaos and worry over Yondu he’d completely forgotten. “I...think they might be alive...back on Berhert. Cap’n made em set up camp...I...fuck I forgot. Thought everyone was gone cept the Cap’n and me.” 

 

Adrastia stared at him in horror. “What the actual flark Krags.” She whispered.

 

“Mutiny.” The word felt dirty on his tongue, oily. The filth of guilt and treachery still clung to it.

 

“Let me guess, Taserface?” She shook her head.

 

Kraglin sighed. “Some of it was my fault too.”

 

There was a snort of laughter. “Yeah I don’t believe that.”

 

“You should.” He said. Yondu hadn’t laid out judgement for what Kraglin started, maybe she would.

 

“Obfonteri you are many things but disloyal is not one of them. Any mutiny you started would be entirely because you were too stupid to realise what you were doin.”

 

He paused for a moment.  “Hey-”

 

“Am I wrong?”

 

“Well...I didn’t mean to start it.” 

 

Adrastia rolled her eyes in exasperation and sat down in front of her wall of screens. She flipped their contents with a speed Kraglin couldn’t follow.

 

“So. Cap’n needs a crew until he can get his built back up again.“ She hummed for a moment. “Not sure how many spaces I can fill for ya but there’s some that’ll help I think.“

 

Kraglin kicked what appeared to be a firmer pile of softness over next to her and sat down, elbows resting on his knees. “Cap’n needs more than that.“

 

“Oh?“

 

“He needs a doctor...a real one.“

 

That stopped her in her tracks. “What aren’t you telling me?“

 

That was all it took to spill the whole story from him. It was somewhat of a relief really, to talk to someone about it that wasn’t actively involved. When he got to Yondu’s condition she pulled over a datapad, asking questions and taking notes. She did the same with the statue but this time her dark brows almost reached her hairline. By the end of it she was tapping distractedly between the pads and screens, clearly not finding what she wanted.

 

“I’ll get you the co-ords of everyone whose might be willin to help.  _ And  _ i’ll get into any database i dont already have a backdoor into regarding that statue.” 

 

Kraglin sighed in gratitude. It wasn’t the best he’d hoped for but it was a lot more than he’d been expecting to get. “Thanks.”

 

“Eh. Anything for the boss. I might not wear the flames no more but that don’t mean he’s any less my Cap’n.”

 

“Knew I could count on you.” He lied.

 

“Just don’t you go lettin him die on us, yeah? Otzl has some ins with a couple of med makers. Thinkin he might be able to get you some equipment and meds to help with the whole process, plus he actually had a medical license before it was revoked.“

 

At that addition Kraglin could have kissed her. He didn’t. He valued his life slightly more than that and she wasn’t who he really wanted to be kissing.

 

“Gimme your comm details.“ Said Adrastia “I’ll send you his along with those coords and the info soon as I gets any.” 

 

They swapped of comm details in short measure and Kraglin got up to leave, as he opened the door she called out to him. “Oi! And Krags? Flarkin stay in touch this time? Or visit or some shit? Not like my schedules full.”

 

At that he actually smiled a little. “Yes ma’am.”

  
  


Adrastia chucked a little at being called ‘ma’am’. The instant the locks engaged behind Kraglin she pulled up the details for Otzl, Sparks and Spike-head. There wasn’t many others she’d trust as crew while the captain was incapacitated. Otzl and Sparks she could message without much issue. Spike-head on the other hand, well he was going to more of a problem. Which pretty much summed up her entire life’s experience in dealing with him.

 

Spike-head’s name was a combination of clicks and grunts that so far only Yondu himself had ever been able to pronounce properly so his nickname was assigned, based on the hair-like quills that exuded from his scalp,and were flattened all the way down his spine under the jumpsuit, it was also based on the fact that at some point the orange scaled idiot had decided that shoving little metal spikes beneath the surface of his skin was an attractive fashion statement. The problem with Spike-head was that he was currently in jail. Adrastia  _ hated _ jailbreaking. She especially hated jailbreaking people who got caught because they were too dumb to turn off the security feed.

 

She’d deal with Otzl first. Yondu’s health was the most pressing issue.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve: Old Friends and Older Enemies**

  
  


The first thing Kraglin did when he was back on board was break the potentially good news to Peter. He hoped it softened the bad news of him leaving people alone on Berhert. Quill took it better than he thought and a course was soon charted back to the planet so they could pick up those who were left. 

 

Kraglin wasn’t sure he’d ever seen Halfnut as happy as he was when they showed up. Oblo had hugged him and clung on until Tullk managed to convince him that Kraglin would actually need his arms to get them all out of there. 

 

Before they left Kraglin told them about the mutiny. He also told them what had happened to the mutineers. Halfnut and Brahl looked guiltily at each other. Kraglin wasn’t surprised, they had always been part of Taserface’s crowd. Scrote seemed happy to throw himself on Kraglin’s mercy but then again he had always been a cowardly little thing.

 

Atrandu and Sirano were loyal as always. Tullk and Oblo even more so. Kraglin was glad to see them again. Would be glad to have them back on board when they finally got to that. Vorker just shrugged at them all. He’d go with whoever would pay him. At least in that way he was predictable.

 

Finally Kraglin told them about the situation with Quill, and the worse situation with Yondu. He was surprised at the amount of support he seemed to get, until Oblo tugged him off to one side.

 

“You gotsta tell boss how you feel now, when he wakes up I mean.”

 

Kraglin bristled.“No I  _ don’t _ ”

“He’s gonna want answers.” Oblo wasn’t trying to make things difficult. Kraglin knew that. He just wished his friend had better timing. He managed to get Oblo to drop the issue by agreeing to talk about it at some point and by the time they joined the rest of the group Halfnut and Brahl had decided they would work to redeem themselves. They’d always followed after whoever they thought was strongest. It was time to think for themselves. 

 

With a sigh of relief and a promise extracted from each and everyone of them that there would be no attempts on Yondu, or anyone else’s, life unless they wanted  _ consequences _ they journeyed back to the Quadrant.

 

Much later Kraglin got a frantic comm call. 

 

“Oi! Obfonteri!” Adrastia’s voice echoed over the ships speakers. 

 

Kraglin sighed. “That aint a regulation way to comm.”

 

“Never stopped the boss.“ She said. “Look thought you might want to know that some other ravager clans have been sniffing around.”

 

Kraglin froze. “Got any names?”

 

“Stakar.”

 

“Flark.“ He said. It seemed like the only word that did it justice.

 

“I know right? Word is theys lookin for an exiled ravager captain and first mate.”

 

“ _ Flark. _ ”

 

“Word also is theys lookin for a former ravager techy and by word I mean I’s had some near misses the past week or so.”

 

“Flark.” Kraglin wasn’t sure if there was anything else in his vocabulary in this situation. 

 

“Yeah. Was wondering if I packed up my things if I could hitch a ride somewhere a little less hot?“ Her voice was hopeful, but tentative. She was expecting to be turned down.

 

“Or,“ said Kraglin. “You could just take one of the rooms on the Quadrant.”

 

“Aint your crew Obfonteri.” Was the vehement response.

 

“Balls to that. You’ve never stopped bein crew. Why’d you think I was asking for the rest of the old crowd too. Cap’n needs a crew when he’s back on his feet.”

 

There was a sigh. “I dunno Krags.”

 

“You only left cause of Taserface.“ He hoped Quill was right about that. “he’s not gonna be a problem no more is he.”

 

“...I guess.”

 

“Adrastia.”

 

“Look I need to get out of here anyhows. Not makin any promises for the rest.”

 

Kraglin nodded to himself. “Good enough, we’ll swing by and pick ya up.” They could work on the rest of it later.

 

“Thanks Krags.”

 

He shook his head. “Not like I dun owe you right now.” But the comm had already been dropped when he said it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen: The Doctor Will See You Now**

  
  


When they picked up Adrastia and her unreasonably heavy crates of tech she came with solid co-ordinates for the other three crew members she’d found and advice from Otzl on how to treat Yondu until they picked him up. She also came with a bag full of medication as recommended by Otzl. Quill nearly cracked her ribs just from hugging her.

 

After bitching him out for it she admitted she was glad he hadn’t died yet, which was about as much praise as anyone ever got out of her.

 

Kraglin left getting the Quadrant to Otzl’s location in Peter’s hands while he and Tullk helped Adrastia carry out the instructions she’d been given. Patches filled with a strange orange gel were applied to the bits of Yondu’s skin that had taken the worst damage. Tullk handled it as if he’d been put in charge of an honour guard. 

 

Kraglin worked on getting a drip set up to get the medication into Yondu’s system. Adrastia filled about in the background trying to hotwire one of her screens to a piece of equipment in the hope they could take a look at Yondu’s insides. Every so often there was a shower of sparks from the corner she had parked herself in. In the end her venture failed but over the course of the next three days Yondu’s colour improved and he started making small twitches and other movement.

It looked as though he was passing from whatever coma or similar state he’d been in, into actual sleep. 

 

The crew took turns watching him for any change, although Halfnut, Brahl, Scrote and Vorker were excluded until Kraglin could be sure they were trustworthy.

 

On the fourth day, as the Depaxii tech was on watch, Yondu’s eyes fluttered open and he blinked rapidly in an attempt to focus. He caught sight of Adrastia by his bedside.

 

“Huh. Didn’t know you’d kicked it too.”

 

“I didn’t.” She said with a smile ”And neither have you...yet.”

 

“M’I hallucinatin?”

 

Adrastia laughed. “You’re gonna wish you were. Healin’ this ain’t gonna be pleasant.”  Then she bared her teeth, all four rows of them. “Otzl’s gonna kill ya.”

 

Yondu groaned. If he had been able to flop an arm over his eyes he would have done so. “This some sorta reunion?”

 

“Ask yer first mate.”

 

She got a look for that. “You see any leathers on me? Any flames?”

 

Another look and lips pursed almost to whistle. 

 

Adrastia began to backpedal. “I’m here to look after my own skin...and maybe,  _ maybe _ pay off a few things I’s owin’ thas all….for now.” War teeth hindered her speech but still grinning she pushed herself off the table she had been sitting on and limped her way out the door. 

 

“Otzl gonna look at that leg while he’s here?”

 

Adrastia glanced back, rolled her eyes and then slunk off as much as she was able to.

 

“You jus wait till I’m back on my feet girl! Don’t think I won’t be gettin those answers outchu.” Yondu’s voice followed her down the corridor. She comm’d Kraglin to let him know his captain was awake and then turned in for the cycle. She was tired, and Otzl would be here so. He always went through people he thought weren’t looking after themselves.

  
  
  
  


Kraglin spent the night bent over Yondu’s bed, catching him up on things while he was awake. 

Yondu was touched at the potential return of his former crew even if he refused to show it and was about ready to murder quill. We do not play with mysterious artefacts this is not a difficult concept.

 

They picked up Otzl and Sparks the next day. Apparently they’d gotten married since leaving the Ravagers. No one wanted to ask how that worked between an Aaskavarian and a Xandarian who was at this point almost more prosthetics and mods than he was organic parts. If it worked for them it worked for them. Most people on the ship weren’t in a position to judge. The nod they got from Tullk and Oblo had Kraglin doing some serious rethinking about his crewmates ‘friendship’. Good for them, really.

 

Once they had gotten settled Otzl spent a good long time asking Yondu questions and running various tests on his blood and all manner of other things. Sparks got the machine set up that would let them check on internal bleeding and organ damage.

 

The results were better than anticipated. The medication had done the majority of the hard work but Yondu would require one small surgery to patch up his lungs a bit. After that it would be safe to take him off the breathing apparatus.

 

True to Adrastia's prediction Yondu also had to suffer through a series of lectures from the medic on why it was not advisable to space oneself.


	14. Chapter 14

**Act Three:** Sacrifices switched

 

**Chapter Fourteen: The Gangs All Here**

 

By the time Yondu was out of surgery and on his way to recovery Spike-head had been picked up. He’d been laying low on Knowhere since Adrastia’s little jailbreak and Kraglin wasn’t even going to ask how she managed that. It turned out he had left because Narblik kept sliding his spikes out while he slept, metal and organic, and displaying them as trophies. It was a good thing he was dead, thought Kraglin, because Spike-head was about the size of a small tank made entirely of muscle.

 

Yondu was back on his feet but on strict doctors orders not to do anything strenuous. This was currently causing untold amount of problems because they had finally managed to dig up a lead on Peter’s memories. Salomnia had been right about the second god. It turned out there was a second statue. The working theory was that if Quill touched it his memories would be returned.

 

Not a single one of them wanted to contemplate the fact that it might do something else.

 

Yondu was going stir-crazy and driving everyone else crazy with him. He had a working plan for the statue but if he couldn’t go on the mission himself he was just going to have to sit back and supervise. He rubbed his hands together in glee. It felt good to be stealing things again. Especially if it meant an end to two year gaps without contact with Quill.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen: The Heist of The Century**

 

Location of Anti-artefact, artefact? Check.

Remade, if small, Ravager crew? Check.

First mate who looks about ready to rip out spines with his bare hands? Flarking check, double check and triple check, and dammit the last thing Yondu needs right now is a hard on when he can barely walk to begin with.

 

He was reluctantly set up on the comms to coordinate everyone else’s movements. He was wearing what had swiftly become his invalids uniform. A pair of trousers made of some sort of soft grey material and a matching shirt. He felt like he was in prison...again. After the last set of lectures he’d suffered through he had no intent on changing them though. Otzl was a menace when he put his mind to it.

 

Yondu looked over at where Adrastia was strapping on her boots. She’d never been one for fighting before, if he remembered correctly.

 

“You sure you’re good for combat?“ He asked.

 

Four sets of razor sharp black teeth grinned back at him

 

“Never mind.“

 

“Just don’t break my systems.“ She said.

 

“Sorry what was that? I can’t hear you over the puddles your spraying onto the floor.“ Said Rocket. Yondu had been glad to see him again, and the twig. He didn’t like to say things like he had ‘bonded’ with them but there was some truth to it. 

 

“On my homeworld we eat little scampering things like you.“

 

“Oi.“ He backed up. “I am nobody's dinner.“

 

Quill stepped between them and tried his best to keep the peace. It was interesting to watch. Memories or no, his boy had grown up alright.

 

“I am Groot.“

 

“Nobody asked you!“

  
  
  


It was all organised rather neatly if he did say so himself. Adrastia hacked the security systems, Spike-head hacked the security personnel, Kraglin and Quill went in after the artefact itself and Halfnut and Brahl attempted to redeem themselves a little by being the most obnoxious distraction in the Galaxy. Everyone else was there for backup, or in the Guardians case simply staying out of things that were Ravager business.

 

It was all going perfectly. Until the owner of the statue decided to take a look in his vault and shot a blaster straight at Quill.

 

Kraglin dove in front of it.

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen: Returning What Was Lost**

 

Kraglin was rushed back to ship and sent hurtling on a gurney along to the medbay. 

 

Otzl made quick work of filling up the blaster holes with more of the mysterious orange gel but he wouldn’t wake up. As someone not long recovered from a coma Yondu was seriously worried.

 

Peter had managed to wrap the Statue in some expensive carpet or other and cart it back to the Quadrant. The original plan had been to try and get his memories back there and then but with Kraglin injured that had gone out the window.

 

It was strange really. He had, for some reason, expected the second statue to be black. It was as white as the first one. The only difference between them was instead of a hand reaching from the back of the head there was one reaching out from inside the mouth. It had the same unsettling aura about it that Yondu had felt with the first one. He had every intention of sending it to Salomnia as an apology for the other one as soon as Peter was fixed.

  
  


After a full day of sitting over Kraglin with no improvement he was shooed out of the medbay. Peter had been putting off the inevitable so, instead, he sat with him as he knelt in front of the statue. The time had come to undo the damage that had been done.

 

Peter took a deep breath and swallowed heavily, clearly trying to psych himself up. He slowly reached out and placed one hand on the cheek of the statue. He froze. From the outside it looked as though every muscle in his body had locked in place but inside Peters mind he was tumbling, falling through memories he had forgotten were his. Parts of his life flashed by in an instant, knowledge and emotion embedding themselves in his consciousness. He saw every memory Kraglin had mentioned in their fight. Every “I’m proud of you boy“, every secret hug so the crew wouldn’t think their captain was soft, every flying and shooting lesson, every “well done Quill“, every single moment with Yondu, and the rest but especially Yondu, that had filled him with contentment and a sense of belonging. A sense of family and home. 

 

What seemed like days to Peter was barely half an hour for everyone else. He let his hand slip from the statue and stared at it for a moment in confusion. Then he turned to Yondu and his eyes welled up. 

 

It was too much. After Ego and getting Yondu back to health Peter had felt a much stronger bond but now there was so much more and it was just all too much at once.

 

He ran from the room and shut himself up in his cabin. 

 

Yondu sighed, the boy would come around eventually. Somethings just took time. 

  
  


Two days later Kraglin woke up. Yondu had never felt so relieved. Of course, this wasn’t going to stop him from going through his first mate for the shit he had pulled.

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen: Embracing What Was Almost Lost**

  
  


Yondu gave Kraglin the decency to be officially cleared by Otzl before pulling him aside for a talk. 

 

“You want to tell me what the hell you was thinking out there?“

 

Kraglin couldn’t meet his eyes. That more than anything else felt like a knife in Yondu’s chest.

 

“Kraglin?“

 

“I-“ He cut himself off with a sniff and to Yondu’s horror he could see a tear dripping down his first mate’s face. “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t started the mutiny.“

 

“Krags-“

“No.“ He looked up, eyes red and watery as tears streamed down his face. “I should be punished. Just like the rest of them. I should-“ His voice wavered. “ I shouldn’t get to just be here like nothin happened. I almost lost you sir. I almost lost you  _ so many times _ . And...it’s all my fault. After what you did for Peter, I couldn’t just let him get shot. What if you-“ He stopped to scrub at his eyes. “I can’t lose you again sir, or almost lose you. I-I don’t think I can live without ya anymore. I don’t think I know how.“ 

 

Yondu didn’t know what to say to that. What could you say. His heart hammered in his chest, desperate to burst free. He had to say something. Emotions and understanding weren’t something he was good at but this. 

 

Kraglin choked back a sob and whirled around, fleeing off into the bowels of the ship before Yondu could come up with a response. 

 

He weighed the thoughts he’d been keeping in his chest for years against his pride, against the crew he had left and the crew he’d gained back. Then he squared his shoulders and went after Kraglin.

 

He caught up to him in one of the rec areas with a bottle of rotgut in hand. It made his chest ache in away he was becoming all to used to. Yondu cleared his throat and winced at the sight of Kraglin with red eyes that he’d caused.

 

“Look.“ Said Yondu. “You can’t hairing off like that without givin me a chance to say anything.“ 

 

Kraglin winced. “Didn’t think I’d like what ya had to say sir.“

 

Yondu took a cautious step forward. “Now you see here. I’m not good at talking about feelings and all that mushy stuff Quills songs are all about but that don’t mean that I’m actually heartless.“ He cringed. He wasn’t sure this was going right.

 

“What...what are you sayin’“

 

Yondu edged closer again. “Im sayin, ya idjit that I can’t live without you either.“

 

“Oh…. _ oh _ .“

 

“Oh flarkin hell.“ Yondu closed the last few steps between them and grabbed Kraglin by the collar of his jumpsuit, pulling his first mate down into a kiss. It wasn’t soft or sweet. It was messy and filthy and as Kraglin outright moaned into his mouth Yondu couldn’t remember anything feeling better. 

 

When they broke for air Kraglin was attached to him like a limpet, but between Kraglins height and the angle Yondu’s neck had been at there was no way they could keep this up as it was. Yondu allowed Kraglin to crowd him back towards a couch and attempt to clamber into his lap. He let him stay there for all of ten seconds before dumping Kraglin on the couch next to him and straddling him properly.

 

“Better.“ He grinned all glass sharp teeth and wickedness

 

Kraglin’s answer was swallowed by a moan as Yondu ground his hips against his. He clung onto his captains hips and sat back to enjoy what he was pretty certain was about the ride of his life. 

 

“Ya sure you don’t wanna do this on a bed, sir?“

 

“I aint a girl Krags.“

 

“M’not sayin ya are, just your still recoverin’-“

 

“So are you.“

 

“Sir-“

 

“Don’t care.“

 

“ _ Sir _ .“

 

“This is what I  _ want _ Krags. You sayin I cant get what I want?“

 

Kraglin shook his head. “No sir.“

 

“Good boy.“

 

Yondu shimmied out of the loose trousers he’d been forced into by Otzl as best he could and had Kraglin’s jumpsuit open fast enough to make the boy yelp. Yondu bit as his lips in a rough kiss. Poor Krags had no idea the door he’d just opened.

 

“You better have some slick on you. I don’t think I got much patience right now.“

 

“ _ Oh _ . Otzl is gonna kill me for this.“

 

“Look at this way, I’m gonna kill you if you don’t. “

 

Despite his, admittedly half-hearted protests, Kraglin fished out a packet of slick from one of the many pockets in his jumpsuit. Yondu had it torn open and dripping over Kraglin’s cock in under ten seconds. The rest he coated his own fingers with. He braced himself on Kraglin’s chest with his other hand and reached back. 

 

Kraglin’s pupils dilated until there was almost nothing else to his eyes. He let out a low keening sound and spread the lubricant across his cock more evenly as he watched Yondu stretch himself out.

 

Neither of them were patient really. Yondu should have stretched himself out a fair bit more if the burn when he sank down was anything to go by but there was no way he could have stopped himself. Kraglin filled him up perfectly and it was all he could do not to start dropping himself down on that cock over and over already. Flark but it was good. It was  _ so _ good. 

 

Finally he gave a little experimental roll of his hips and when all that happened was his spine turning liquid he started to rise up. Kraglin’s bony fingers dug into his hips and Yondu smirked as his first mate helped his captain ride him. It didn’t stay slow for long. Soon enough Kraglin was thrusting up into him with force, every pounding roll to his hips sending starbursts across Yondu’s vision as he moaned and tried to keep up. 

 

Kraglin let go of one hip long enough to wrap a hand around Yondu’s weeping cock and all it  took was four short strokes and Yondu was covering both their chests and bellies in his come. It was too much, Kraglin gripped his hips again and thrust viciously into Yondu a few more times before stilling with what was almost a howl and filling Yondu to the point he was almost overflowing.

 

Yondu curled, contented against his chest, although if anyone had asked he was just getting his breath back. Kraglin let his head thump back against a wall as one hand smoothed up and down the scars on Yondu’s spine. 

 

Eventually they’d have to get dressed and get into an actual bed but for the moment both were content to bask in the afterglow of pleasure and the feeling of  _ finally. _

  
  



End file.
